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I’m sharing photos of my sons’ bedroom today! The room didn’t come together right away and it’s taken lots of adjustments to get to where I finally felt it was “finished.” When we bought our first home in San Francisco and moved in last Fall we set up the old bedroom furniture in their new room but a lot of things just didn’t fit right. It has taken almost 6 months to slowly resolve each problem until I was happy with it. When I’m decorating a space I really try to think about how functional everything is, I’ll share that whole process below. Come take a peek!

A few general details: We had the front half of the house painted before we moved in and that included the boys’ room. I had to choose the paint colors fairly quickly and for the boys’ room I chose Valspar’s Swiss Coffee. Eggshell walls and Semigloss Trim. It was a nice clean slate to start from. I knew right away I wanted a big wall map so I ordered this one off Amazon. It comes with wall paper paste and took an afternoon to hang (it’s not complicated but it is tedious.) The rug we bought from West Elm. The light fixture is the Nelson Ball Pendant. There is a lot going on in the room so I wanted the light to be subtle and I think it works.

The bunk beds are the Ikea Mydal painted Valspar’s Classic red, the striped bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids. When choosing bunkbeds I really liked the Room and Board Fort Bunk Bed and almost purchased it. But we noticed Ikea had an almost identical wooden version for 1/10th the price. Paul convinced me to try out the Ikea version first and if we changed our minds we could sell it and and upgrade. I’m really glad we did because we’ve been really happy with the Ikea version. We painted the bunkbed with two coats of red paint and one coat of polyurethane. (We went into the stores and tested both and the R+B one is more sturdy and better built.)

The toy shelf is also from Ikea. It’s really tall and has clean lines and everyone seems surprised it’s from Ikea. It’s become sort of a joke because several of our friends have bought it since they saw it at our house. It’s definitely a new Ikea favorite. I like keeping the toys stored low to the ground in clear plastic bins and and the less-used toys higher up. We also store board games and some toys in the closet. (I did a whole giant post on our toy collection right here, if you’re interested.) The orange sailboat is actually a kite (which we use!) but it also looks nice next to our vintage globe collection. The seahorse and dragonflies we got in France from Petit Pan.

Here are some of the nitty gritty details of how the room came together:

The first problem we encountered was the old bedroom had several toy shelves we attached to the wall. But the new space had tall moulding that wasn’t conducive to wall shelving so we needed to figure out a new toy storage system. We ended up going with this metal bookshelf from Ikea that has been perfect.

The second problem was the bed conundrum. The boys had a great set of toddler beds in the old place but Moses’ toes were getting close to the end of the toddler bed so I bought some vintage twin beds off Craigslist. When we set them up we realized they took up way too much room and we promptly had to disassemble and put them in storage. It’s funny because in my mind we were moving from a tiny 500 square foot apartment to a new giant house with room to spare. I quickly realized I still had space limitations to deal with. We put the toddler beds back in until I could figure out what we wanted to do. I really didn’t want to do bunk beds but after weighing all our options we ended up trying it. We’ve had them a few months so far and like them. My only complaint is it is a full body workout to make the beds!

The last big problem was the wall opposite of the bed. We had a small vintage wardrobe on the other wall where we kept some games and costumes. I finally was honest with myself that even though I loved it, we weren’t using it very much and it was taking up a lot of space. We replaced it with this children’s play table from Serena and Lily and bought some Panton Junior chairs to go with it. The kids use it for homework and art projects everyday. My friend Erik had told me about this Algot shelving system from Ikea that is really nice and he uses in his shop. We installed it above the play table to hold all their toys.

I’m so happy how it all came together. The boys love their room and play in it everyday. I love how easy it is to clean and organize (everything has a place) and the space is utilized so much better now! I tried to source everything but if I missed something I’ll answer the questions in the comments.

I honestly thought this would’ve been a much more expensive room when I saw the first image on Instagram. You did an incredible job of making this look very high end at a budget-friendly, approachable price point. Anyone could replicate this which is the best! Very inspired. Nice work!

looks amazing, jordan! those lucky boys! i love how you display all of their toys – organized neatly it gives it such a nice design sense, too! their dino/animal collection looks so cute, too – and yes so great that everything has its place, makes it that much easier to put things away and tidy!

The room looks so good! I love all the collection shelving & that it feels like a space they can utilize for a long time. One bed making tip: you may want to consider reversing the ladder or putting the Boy’s heads at the ladder end.we have the same ikea bunks and I found that by placing the pillows & heads the opposite way, it is much easier to simply pull up the sheet & duvet, replace the pillows and tuck things in.

What is the source for the mini coat rack that the Kanken backpack is hanging on? The room is so beautiful. Great job!

Lauren Baker

May 13, 20149:52 am

I am in love with your black doors. Do you mind sharing what paint color you used?

jane

May 13, 20149:52 am

You forgot BOOKS and LEGO in your toy collection!

Great room; really like the combo of red/orange, and the wall map.

*em

May 13, 201410:03 am

It is SO refreshing to see a blogger who actually PAID for her kids room furniture! Not only does it look amazing but it makes a fan out of me! I work with homeless families and it just tears at my heart when I see bloggers parade all the free furniture they get just for a name drop. While a little girl cries tears of happiness when I bought her a new backpack for school!

Thank you for showing us your room! It totally boosts my faith in humanity!

Cynthia

May 13, 201410:04 am

My boys also had bunk beds until about 9 and 11 years of age. The method that worked for us was to buy a couple of cotton duvet covers (or make your own using flat sheets) and put them on down comforters. That was the only cover on each bunk. No making beds and the boys could easily pull their cover up each morning to cover the mattress and it was presentable. It’s super easy to pull the duvet covers off for washing every week or two. We also lived in the Bay area at that time and the comforter provided plenty of warmth.

Wow – the red bed (it is amazing how a couple of coats of paint can take simple red bunk beds and make them into a gorgeous, custom piece of furniture!), the huge wall map, the animal collection – the entire room is livable (playable!) yet gorgeous!

Christina

May 13, 201410:55 am

I’m the same way. I need a room to not only look good, but to make sense as well. I finally landed the look in the living room. I drive my husband crazy with the constant changes, but we are both very pleased with it now. I’ve now earned his trust and patience, lol. You did a great job with the color scheme and exploration theme. Sharing these ideas inspires me to not be scared of color and to do the unexpected

What a fantastic bedroom – lucky boys!! We are in the same boat with our two boys and room size. We’ve opted for the Ikea bunks too and I’m so curious what the painting job was like? Any tips? Straightforward but just time consuming or overall easy as a DIY?

Love!!! It looks amazing! And I’m so pleased to see a boys room without a super hero in it, thank you!

Kyla

May 13, 20143:11 pm

I have looked at a lot of kids rooms over the last few years and this is one of my absolute favorite. Just too fantastic for words! I love that it’s not so precious that it looks like nothing is ever played with. I feel so cool since we also bought an Ikea bunk bed and painted it for my little guys. Although they no longer carry the one we used. It was a little more sturdy, and more expensive, than the Mydal. Still, I have something in common with Jordan!!

In their closet! It’s a walk in closet with a closet system so there are drawers and shelves aplenty.

Sunny

May 14, 20146:15 am

My husband would go CRAZY for this room! He would LOVE to do something like this for Baby Arlo’s room. Was is difficult to attach the map to the wall? My husband and I are both intimidated by wallpaper.

This is a great children’s room! The pops of colour are brilliant! I am a bit envious of their dinosaur collection.

My sister and I had bunk beds growing up — we always fought over who got to sleep in the top bunk, so I think my Mum made a rota stipulating who got to sleep there when. My parents still have those beds disassembled as two singles in the guest room.

This room looks great and that metal shelf is rad! You’re such an inspiration, Jordan. xo

Korin

May 14, 201411:59 am

Hi Jordan,
Firstly. I love the room. It is DARLING and fun and colorful and just makes me happy to look at it.

Secondly. When we were small and had bunk beds, my mom bought sheets to match our comforters and then cut them down (it requires sewing yes) until they were exactly the size of the top of our mattresses. Then when we made our beds there was no tucking needed.

What a great job. I love the map, the rug, the orange kite, and on and on. Quick question: What paint did you use on the (black) door? Love how it looks against the walls. Thank you!

Jennifer

May 14, 20148:00 pm

Can you share the roller blind you used? I’m trying to find similar for our apartment and yours look so sleek and yet still able to get lots of gorgeous natural light in-thanks!

jordan

May 15, 2014 7:56 am

IT’s the Enje from Ikea. We did them on all our windows when we moved in (we used an Ikea hack to make them custom sizes.)

Jamee

May 15, 201411:15 am

I am totally inspired by this bedroom. nicely done mom! I noticed that the doors in your house are black and I love the way it looks. Do you have black doors throughout your home or just upstairs? I’m wondering how that works? Could you share any additional photos of the black doors from a hallway?

mirabelle

May 15, 20141:57 pm

Where are the old twin beds? Are you selling them? I am local and was SO jealous when you posted the old BR pictures – I had been trolling CL forever for 2 of them!